Japan, Thailand, South Korea, the United States, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and the United Kingdom made the list of top 10 destinations outside mainland China with the fastest-growing search volume, following news of China reopening its borders to the rest of the world.
Mothership: George and Philip Yeo funded
M’sia, Japan and the US have imposed Covid test restrictions, I hope S’pore follows.
Int’l media reports that a hospital in Shanghai reportedly told staff that it expects half of the city’s 25m people to become infected with covid-19 by the end of December.
Wonder if the head of the hospital is now in jail? Will the hospital recant?
Related post: Covid (aka Nemesis) says hello to Grandpa Xi’s Hubris
After his triumph of becoming paramount leader and Helmsman II, Xi is now facing the the possibility that China’s Covid wave could kill as many as 1.5m people. Only 1m Americans died.
Residents of Shanghai, Shenzhen and other cities say that pharmacies have sold out of fever medicine and Covid tests. Social media images contrast long queues outside Covid clinics with otherwise empty streets.
China’s lack of preparation after authorities reversed strict pandemic controls is showing. Even the Brits and M’sians did better in preparing for the reversal.
Btw, in the context of China’s population, 1,5m deaths are “peanuts”.
Still this isn’t the triumph of the Chinese way v the American way that Xi crowed about when 1m Americans died.
Thousands of people in Shanghai staged a demonstration against China’s draconian anti-covid measures, Some called for the removal of President Xi Jinping. Sporadic anti-lockdown protests also broke out in Beijing. A fire that killed ten people in Urumqi, the capital of the western province of Xinjiang, has focused people’s anger. Demonstrators there blamed covid restrictions for slowing the response of emergency services. There are reports that some of the restrictions there have been lifted after people protested.
Video of Shanghai protect: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-china-63770974
There’s still a clear and present danger.
The Majestic Princess, a cruise ship owned by Carnival, docked in Sydney after 800 passengers and crew (about 20% of those on board) came down with covid-19.
Xi’s zero-covid policy is having another bad week and it’s really bad:
Much of Shenzhen, a Chinese tech metropolis, entered a weekend lockdown to allow for mass covid-19 testing, as the city battles a spike in cases. Residents of six districts were told to halt “unnecessary movement and activities”; public transport and restaurant dining were suspended. One person from each household will be permitted to leave their homes to purchase necessities. Shenzhen is the latest Chinese megacity to face severe constraints: 21m residents of Chengdu, in southwest China, entered lockdown on Thursday.
Economist’s The world in brief
And the very latest is that China extended its lockdown of parts of Chengdu and expanded mass covid-19 testing there to contain a spike in cases.
Looks like Xi will not have a Covid free coronation in October after which he will have no limits on his term of office.
Yesterday, after publishing Will Fairprice lower the price of its bread? , I went out to buy a roast duck using my CDC vouchers.
As it was a Monday, I also popped into Fairprice because I could use my 98-yr old mum’s Pioneer Card to get a 3% discount on goods purchased. The cashier gave me the discount (12 cents) but told me that the discount can now only be claimed in person. I said my mum was 98 years old and she needed a wheel chair when going out, hence my use of the card. She told me to collect a form from the information counter for me or the helper to get the discount.
Seems that we will get a card to present when we present the Pioneer card if the application form is approved. But we need a doctor’s letter saying my mum is immobile. I’m sure I can get the polyclinic doctor to certify this, but not all Pioneers get such certification.
Fairprice allowed family members and helpers to use the cards when Covid was a problem. So maybe with the lifting of restrictions, and rising prices maybe it’s right to insist on in person use? Us Merdeka card holders lost this choice a few months back.
But with the cases of Covid rising again (12,000 new cases as of last Thursday) will the anti-PAP mob KPKB when a Pioneer falls ill or dies because die die the Pioneer wants the discount?
I’m sure our millionaire ministers have done their calculations and reached the Pay AND Pay conclusion, like when they did in the ongoing AMK Sers debacle and the coming GST rises. Our 4G leaders are so predictable in their inability to understand the concerns of the plebs. Or is it contempt for the plebs?
Chinese are fighting inflation and Covid-19 successfully with its “dynamic zero-covid” policy. Too bad about the lockdowns, human suffering and economic slowdowns. LOL.
Even the CCP has to backdown when people are angry.
Int’l media reports that, following a backlash online, local authorities in Beijing dropped plans to require proof of vaccination for entering public venue. The city’s vaccine mandate would have been the first of its kind in China. Beijing residents will only have to show proof of a negative covid-19 test obtained within 72 hours in order to enter public venues.
So unlike the PAP. LOL. Die, die must raise GST despite public anger.
Seriously, the Chinese don’t do vaccination: Why China has to continue with its zero-Covid policies, lockdowns and all
Defeat after victory was declared:
Parts of Shanghai were locked down yet again, as China’s biggest city continues its pyrrhic battle with covid-19. Minhang district, home to 2m people, will be the latest to be quarantined. Meanwhile, many temporary testing stations—which must be within a 15-minute walk for Shanghainese—are being made permanent. Last week China’s government declared victory against the virus in Shanghai following a costly two-month lockdown.
Economist’s The world in brief
China say’s it’s governance is more superior than that of the West. When Shanghai was last locked down, A Chinese resident in Shanghai posted
“Democracy cannot guarantee the best governance, but it can prevent the worst from happening. That is enough.”
Economist
Being a resident in the capital has its privileges
Officials in Beijing are employing increasingly tough isolation tactics to try to stamp out a Covid-19 outbreak to avoid the no-one-leaves-home lockdown that has shut down Shanghai.
with gradually tightening curbs in China’s capital – most recently suspending taxi services in some virus-hit districts – rumours swirled on Thursday that it was headed for lockdown, something Beijing has avoided during the entire pandemic.
…
Authorities there have already banned dine-in services at restaurants, closed some malls, entertainment and tourist venues, suspended sections of its bus and subway systems and imposed lockdowns on some residential buildings.
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/shanghai-hunts-down-covid-cases-beijing-curbs-taxi-services-2022-05-12/
China is struggling to end its latest outbreak of more than 500,000 cases of covid-19
In a paper published this week in Nature Medicine, Chinese scientists and their foreign colleagues model the alternatives. Dropping all lockdown restrictions would quickly lead to 1.6m deaths, and at the peak of the wave China would need 16 times more intensive-care beds than it currently has.
The world in brief (Economist)
1.6m deaths is more than the deaths in the US, the hegemon China considers is decadent but is envious of, and wants to dethrone.
But the Ang Moh advice on how to avoid these deaths means following the Western practice of vaccinating the elderly and probably even importing Western drugs.
More realistic is a combination of vaccines and treatments. That, according to the scientists, could be sufficient to prevent the crush at hospitals. Treating all symptomatic cases with the most effective antiviral drugs would make the biggest difference. But huge amounts of the drugs must be procured. Vaccinating over-60s would also make a significant, though smaller, difference. Closing schools and workplaces, and other curbs on group activity, are much less effective—they only delay the problem in the same way that the zero-covid policy does.
The world in brief (Economist)
North Korea fired three ballistic missiles into the sea off its coast, according to Japan and South Korea. More unusually, after going the duration of the pandemic without reporting a case of covid-19, North Korean state media announced the country’s first infections. The ruling party blamed the outbreak on the “carelessness, laxity, irresponsibility and incompetence” of those responsible for keeping the virus out of the country.
Daily briefing Economist
North Korea confirmed its first death from Covid-19 on Friday, with state media adding that tens of thousands more are experiencing fever symptoms.187,000 people with a fever were being “isolated and treated”.
Six people died after suffering a fever with one testing positive for Omicron, state media reported.
Their data on deaths from Covid is BS.
The truth
Almost as fast as Shanghai’s residents post videos on how things really are in the city (bad, really bad), the censors take the posts down.
But blockchain is riding to the rescue:
One tool that netizens have deployed to document their experiences is the blockchain. Because the technology uses decentralised servers, there is no one company that can be leaned on to delete content. And activity is anonymous. “Shanghai Covid Memories” is a digital archive of disturbing moments. In one video a mother pleads with health workers to be allowed to take her sick two-year-old to hospital. The files are all saved (and available for sale) as non-fungible tokens on OpenSea, an NFT marketplace. So far none has been purchased. But the gallery is there for anyone to browse.
FT Daily Briefs last week
Recently I reported the mass testing in Beijing: Omicron is making fools of Xi and the CCP. Problem is that mass testing spreads Omicron.
Experts have warned that Omicron could be spreading during mass testing drives (now very common in China) because people are forced to congregate and then wait in less than salubrious environments before being tested. Many have refused to comply with testing orders because they are afraid of getting Omicron. They are right to be afraid.
Superiority of the Beijing model of governance: what superiority? LOL
Omicron shows that Xi, the CCP and the Beijing model have feet of plasticine.
While the decadent ang mohs are going on hols overseas, yesterday the FT reported:
Jilin in China’s north has now been locked down for more than 50 days and carried out 40 rounds of citywide Covid-19 testing … nearby industrial city of Changchun has similarly locked down for more than four weeks
But Jilin still reported 15 new cases on Saturday while Changchun reported 172 new cases.
Since 4 April, Shanghai’s 25 million-strong population has been shut in their homes while officials try to contain the city’s worst Covid surge to date. But the city reported 39 Covid deaths on Sunday, a record for Shanghai, in addition to more than 21,000 new infections.
And in Beijing
The Chinese capital Beijing has kicked off mass testing for millions of residents after a spike in Covid cases.
The Chaoyang district reported 26 cases over the weekend – the highest number so far in Beijing’s latest surge.
Long queues outside supermarkets and shops were seen despite government assurance of a sufficient food supply.
It comes amid fears that Beijing could face a similar situation to Shanghai, which has seen some 25 million people shut in their homes for weeks.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-61212757
More at China’s oldies are giving Xi a migraine.
Putin has his war on Ukraine. Grandpa Xi has his war Omicron.
Maybe both should declare victory to save face?
Maybe, he should do what Mao, his hero, liked to do?
China’s zero-covid policy has saved millions of lives.
but it will be hard to exit without a wave of cases and deaths because China’s oldies are very reluctant to get inoculated against covid-19.
(See also: Why China has to continue with its zero-Covid policies, lockdowns and all)
This has
has saddled the country with a vulnerable population that could die in large numbers if the government abandons its controversial “zero-covid” policy. But this uncompromising stance, which tries to stamp out any outbreak of the virus, obliges China to impose ruinous lockdowns on some of its most productive cities, including Shanghai, where some unlucky residents have been confined to their homes for over 30 days.
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/chinas-two-front-fight-to-quash-the-virus-and-revive-its-economy/21808838
Maybe Grandpa Xi should take a leaf from his hero, Mao? Let the unvaccinated oldies die?
Mao wasn’t afraid of killing people.
Over the past two years China has had a lower mortality rate from the virus and stronger economic growth than any other big country. It’s “zero Covid” policy has been hailed repeatedly by the official Chinese media as proof of the superiority of the Beijing model of governance. Grandpa Xi’s mantra has been that the east is rising and the west is in decline.
But as the West is opening up, China is locking down hard, very hard.
A report by Gavekal Dragonomics, a research firm, said that all but 13 of China’s top 100 cities (by GDP) were implementing covid restrictions (see chart). Ten cities are in “severe lockdown”, meaning more than half of residents are confined to their homes. Changchun, Xuzhou and Shanghai were recently in full lockdown. But from the Shanghai chart (above) and the next two charts below, the Covid cases are “peanuts”.
Grandpa Xi’s “zero Covid” policy — hailed repeatedly by the official Chinese media as proof of the superiority of the Beijing model of governance — is now in serious trouble.
Shanghai is in a prolonged and increasingly unsustainable lockdown. Residents are getting upset and KPKBing publicly, some even rioting.
On 30th March, I said We getting our 4th jab soon. Well from today those 80 and above can walk in or make appointments for the booster.
Did the ST or any other constructive, nation-building media publications predict this?
Or did any ass-licking academic or expert predict this?
LOL.
Half of China’s elderly population is at higher risk of severe Covid-19 because of the country’s patchy vaccination campaign. China’s homegrown Sinovac vaccine was found to be less effective at preventing death from Covid among the elderly than the BioNTech/Pfizer jab, unless they received three shots. Most Chinese have received either Sinovac or Sinopharm, which also requires a triple dose.
FT
Only about half of over-80s have been fully vaccinated. Less than a fifth have received a booster shot. Some 52m people over the age of 60 have not received two jabs.
Related posts: Mao would be proud and We getting our 4th jab soon
Regulators in America authorised a fourth dose of the covid-19 vaccine made by Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech for anyone older than 50, reports the int’l media.
The Chinese people have stood up.
And the economy is outperforming the American one:
The Chinese economy has expanded by 10.5% in the past two years, compared with 2.4% in America and 0.4% in advanced economies generally.
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2022/03/26/china-must-eventually-learn-to-live-with-the-coronavirus
And so
China’s covid controls “demonstrate the advantages” of the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership and the socialist system, boasts Xi Jinping, the president. All the signs are that his people tend to agree.
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2022/03/26/china-must-eventually-learn-to-live-with-the-coronavirus
But HK shows what can go wrong: What HK-based anti-vaxxer Goh Meng Seng doesn’t tell us.
And there’s the example of S’pore. At one stage, the PAP millionaire ministers were lauded here and abroad for the way they were handling the pandemic: Covid-19: Relax S’poreans, PAP govt is doing a good job and Covid-19: HK and S’pore tops in slowing spread.
Then the Indian variant came along: PAP govt squandered our efforts in obeying the Covid-19 rules and PAP govt’s idea of living with Covid-19.
2%, Hong Kong’s covid-19 case-fatality rate. For unvaccinated people over 80 it is 12%.
And
Hong Kong, which was previously almost untouched by the virus, is now seeing 30,000 cases and more than 200 deaths a day. The city’s healthcare system has been overrun, with shocking images of people in need of hospital care receiving rudimentary treatment outside medical facilities.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-60762032
He’s in HK. He ran to HK because he was afraid of catching Covid here (Anti-vaxxer Goh Meng Seng regretting leaving S’pore). And until recently, he was praising how well HK was coping with Covid-19. He was forever dissing S’pore’s efforts in getting us vaxxed.
Now all he posts on FB is the effectiveness of TCM in combatting Covid-19.
Nothing about the pandemic in HK.
With enemies like him, the PAP doesn’t need friends.
[A] variant that causes severe disease at half the rate of Delta and twice as many infections in total will cause about the same number of severe cases. Hospitals in many countries are feeling the strain.
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2022/01/10/the-omicron-wave-in-new-york-looks-worse-than-in-england
Can you imagine the problems Europe will face if more than half of the European population is infected with Omicron within the next few months? A senior World Health Organization made this warning a few days ago.
The West (and S’pore) is rightly trying to live with Covid. But Covid may not want to be merely endemic. It may want to be remain a pandemic.
Man proposes, Nature (or the Supreme Being?) disposes.
For a second time in two days, the majority of passengers arriving in India on a flight from Italy have tested positive for Covid according to Indian officials.
On Friday, 173 out of 285 passengers aboard the flight from Rome to Amritsar tested positive on arrival.
It follows more than a hundred people testing positive after arriving in Amritsar from Milan on Wednesday.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-59910842
Can’t help but think of Karma at work. Remember when Indians were infecting HK and S’pore?
But losing on points.
It’s another Thriller in Manila. Not a Foreman versus Frazier fight.
Must say this for constructive, nation-building ST, they do great graphics. Too bad about quality of the journalism.
Omicron cases much less likely to need hospital stay, says England health body
People catching Omicron are 50% to 70% less likely to need hospital care compared with previous variants, a major analysis says.
The UK Health Security Agency says its early findings are “encouraging” but the variant could still lead to large numbers of people in hospital.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-59769969
Omicron cases less likely to require hospital treatment, studies show, the int’l media reports.
Data from Denmark, South Africa and the UK point to reduced severity from infection with the coronavirus strain
Three new studies suggested that the Omicron variant of covid-19 may be less severe than its predecessors. One, conducted in Scotland, found that current infection numbers would have resulted in three times as many hospitalisations were the virus to behave like Delta. A South African study indicated that Omicron sufferers were 70-80% less likely to go to hospital than those with other variants. A third, conducted in England, was more sanguine, suggesting that people with Omicron were 15-20% less likely to be hospitalised than those with Delta, but 40-45% less likely to stay there for a night or more. Even if infections prove mild, Omicron could still do grave damage given how quickly it is spreading.
Economist Expresso before it knew of Danish study
On the last sentence in quote more at: Remember this about Omicron
Omicron looks less likely than other strains to cause severe disease. Early data suggest it is more than four times more contagious than Delta, and more able to infect those who have received a standard two-shot course of the AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines. Days after a booster shot, however, protection against infection returns to 70-75%.
But without booster shots, its rapid spread means that infection numbers could crest higher than in any of the previous waves.
A milder disease can still end up killing more people if it is more transmissible than its predecessor.
I’m sure if LKY were alive and in charge of handling the Covid-19 situation, I’m sure he’d say something along the lines of
When we talk – as many do these days – about ‘living with Covid’, it is important that we don’t think of it as simply giving in to the virus. Instead, it is about making sensible changes that allow us to return to greater normality and better health. from
Nicola Sturgeon First Minister of Scotland
Instead, we get the mealy mouthy comments of the MMTF and PM. SAD.
And he’d throw Goh Meng Seng into jail or as Meng Seng is hiding in HK, (Goh Meng Seng can’t hide from Covid-19), he’d cancel him.
But so what?
[T]he two most widely used Chinese vaccines appear among the least effective at limiting transmission of the Delta variant.
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2021/11/17/which-vaccine-is-the-most-effective-against-the-delta-variant
According to the i weekend, three scenarios have been drawn up by the UK government for when the coronavirus pandemic might end globally.
The most optimistic prediction is that the virus becomes a routine disease late next year or in 2023.
The second scenario – seen as the most likely – is that vaccines, testing and antiviral drugs would help the world get back to normal in 2023 or 2024.
The most pessimistic forecast – regarded as highly unlikely – is for mass infections until 2026.
I juz read that M Ravi is representing a group of ant-vaxxers. I’m not sure if this is the group of TRE readers that want to sue the govt for breaching their human rights. TRE is crowd funding for them.
Whatever, as is usual, he’ll say that the restrictions imposed on them are unconstitutional because his grandfather wrote the Con ( M Ravi’s grandfather’s parliament, is it? and M Ravi’s grandfather’s parliament, is it?). Seriously, Ravi says the con means what he says it means, not what the law says it is.
Austria’s chancellor, Alexander Schallenberg, said that a national lockdown for those unvaccinated will begin on Monday. “I don’t see why two-thirds of the population should lose their freedom because another third hesitates,” he said. A surge in infections means 20% of intensive-care beds are currently occupied by covid patients. The country has one of western Europe’s lowest vaccination rates, at just 65%.
Stop playing nice to these anti-social S’poreans. Lock them down.
Fyi, anti-vaxxer flees to HK: Goh Meng Seng can’t hide from Covid-19
As PM said, the Delta variant (known as the Indian variant because it originated in India until the WHO changed the name) was a game changer in the fight against Covid-19. It is more infectious than the Kung Flu or the renamed Alpha, Beta or Gamma variants.
[T]he emergence of the Delta variant has put us in a changed situation.
The Delta variant is highly infectious, and has spread all over the world. Even with the whole population vaccinated, we still will not be able to stamp it out through lockdowns and SMMs. Almost every country has accepted this reality.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/pm-lee-full-speech-covid-19-path-new-normal-2232531/ The variant of Covid-19 from India threatens more than lives
So it’s poetic justice that
They say around 60% of people from South Asian backgrounds and 15% of people of European ancestry carry the high-risk version of the gene[that doubles the risk of lung failure and death from Covid-19].
…
They estimate the risky version of the gene is present in about 2% of people from African-Caribbean backgrounds and 1.8% of people of East Asian descent.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-59165157
I’m really surprised that “Liar, Liar Pants on Fire Khan”* has not KPKBed that the PAP govt chooses to live with Covid-19 because the Chinese are a lot less likely to die from it than she and her fellow mamas.
Remember her rant against the judiciary claiming a Chinese RI boy and other Chinese got off relatively lightly vis-a-vis a Malay Muslim? She forgot to add that it was another Malay Muslim reported his fellow Muslim. In the other case, the church members didn’t think their pastor and his gang did anything wrong. It was the authorities that initiated action.
Surprised that the two Ravis (Political and Mad) are not KPKBing also about the danger to Indians of living with Covid-19, rather than suppressing it.
*MMTF: “Buy Raeesah a beer, give her a Tiger” and Sums up what WP must be thinking
I came across the u/m posted on TRE. I have no idea what this index purports to show, but I’m sure the writer would not agree with MTF: It’s Time for a Tiger” and “Give MTF beers, give them Tigers” and MTF: It’s Time for a Tiger” and “Give MTF beers, give them Tigers”
MTF stands Ministerial Task Force and MMTF stands for Multi Ministerial Task Force. They are the same team. MMTF is the official name, while many here shorten it to MTF.
———-
100th placing in the Covid-19 World Recovery Index
Look Where Lee Hsien Loong, Lawrence Wong, Ong Ye Kung And Co Have Led Us!
100th placing in the Covid Recovery Index!One Place above Afghanistan! Indonesia is placed 41 and Malaysia 50. Japan leads Asia at No. 6 with China at 8 and Taiwan at 11. Even Bangladesh is way above us at 14th place!
And we are one of the tiniest countries in the World!
We really have become 3rd World for Covid! Can you believe that Lawrence Wong and Ong Ye Kung Are in the running to be the next PM? The PAP are really scrapping the bottom of the barrel!
And Singaporeans pay $53 Million a year for a cabinet of this type of quality????
Simon Lim
Further to MTF: It’s Time for a Tiger” and “Give MTF beers, give them Tigers”, more reasons to buy PM-in-waiting Larry Wong and his team of millionaire ministers more Tiger Beers?
Look at our vaccination rate:
But the problem for our millionaire ministers and us (and the world in general) is that vaccination is no silver bullet against Covid-19 as once thought:
Still contagious: covid-19 jab efficacy
Fully vaccinated people with breakthrough covid-19 infections were as contagious as unvaccinated people, a British study published on Thursday found. Infections cleared faster in those who had been vaccinated, but their peak viral load was similar to the unvaccinated. The vaccinated and unvaccinated therefore infected a similar share of household members. What made a difference, however, was whether those household contacts had been vaccinated themselves. About 25% of vaccinated contacts tested positive, compared with 38% of unvaccinated contacts.
One reason for the disheartening results is the waning efficacy of covid-19 jabs against infection. Data from the household contacts suggested protection weakened within three months of a second dose. This means that people who are particularly vulnerable to severe covid might need a booster shot earlier than the prevailing six-month cut-off. Masks, ventilation and social distancing may be necessary at times, even in places, such as Britain, with high vaccination rates.
Economist Expresso
So maybe no Tiger Beers for the PAP millionaire ministers for getting us vaxxed?
But the alternative was (or is) for nature to run its course, as in India, and depend on immunity via catching Covid-19:
The world watched anxiously in April and May, when the caseloads were climbing almost vertically. The terror was justified. India was gripped by the first outbreak of the Delta variant (briefly called “the Indian variant”, until the WHO insisted on switching to Greek letters). Its ferocity taught lessons that some parts of the world are still learning. Indians died in untold numbers. To judge by the number of excess deaths, something like 2.3m lost their lives to the disease. Those who survived rued the government’s failure to procure vaccines earlier, when India had positioned itself as a pharmaceutical factory for the world. The rate of vaccinations went from a trickle to an erratic drip, as systems of every kind shut down. And then in June, almost exactly as fast as the wave of infections had shot up, it shot down again. Not 10% of the population had been vaccinated (see chart). Within two weeks it was back down to pre-Delta levels. No thanks to any medical intervention.
https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2021/10/29/how-did-india-beat-covid-19
Note India has been vaccinating like hell since then and now 23.4% or 323m people have been fully vaccinated.
So maybe the PAP ministers deserve their Tiger Beers, after all?
What do you think?
The Ministerial Task Force got one thing right: Heineken beer sales here were back were back above the pre-pandemic level. That’s a major achievement as the central bank says that domestic GDP is 10% below the pre-pandemic level, while GDP, as a whole, will soon be above the pre-pandemic level because of exports.
Heineken had a bad set of results (37.4% decline in Asian sales). Analysts did not expect the bad numbers that resulted from the return of pandemic restrictions in Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and Malaysia. Heineken has a very strong presence in Vietnam, one of its largest markets globally.
But beer sales in Singapore, South Korea and Laos were back above pre-pandemic levels.
So the Ministerial Task Force got one thing right. So for them: “It’s Time for a Tiger” and “Give that man a beer, give him a Tiger”. Remember these slogans?
For those not in the know, Heineken brews Tiger Beer, in addition to Heineken, Amstel and Sol brands.
(Make sure to read the concluding paragraph)
The decision to allow in vaccinated travellers from India reminded me that our PM who presides over a cabinet and govt that die-die must defend the Ceca agreement with India, said recently that the Delta variant (aka the Indian variant) was a game changer in Covid-19 management.
He said
with vaccination, COVID-19 is no longer a dangerous disease for most of us.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/pm-lee-full-speech-covid-19-path-new-normal-2232531
But
[T]he emergence of the Delta variant has put us in a changed situation.
The Delta variant is highly infectious, and has spread all over the world. Even with the whole population vaccinated, we still will not be able to stamp it out through lockdowns and SMMs. Almost every country has accepted this reality.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/pm-lee-full-speech-covid-19-path-new-normal-2232531
What he didn’t tell us is that thanks to the Indian variant (aka Delta variant) of Covid-19 the global economy is stalling. In it’s latest guesstimate, the IMF Those for Japan and parts of developing Asia were downgraded on account of the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus and the imposition of restrictions on activity.
The two possibilities stagflation or a global recession is not good news for global markets.
Whatever, in allowing in travellers from India, the PAP govt is doubling down on its love of all things from India. Imagine the uproar from S’poreans if one of these travellers is infected with Covid-19 and this results in another lockdown that is not really a lockdown: PAP govt’s idea of living with Covid-19?
Something is wrong, very wrong. Especially as the gap between us and Thailand is statistically significant.
Tell 9% of households to voluntarily lock themselves up for the next 4 weeks.
8.7% of households in 2017 (latest available data) were 3G households i.e. households with three or more generations living under one roof.
Because
Seniors aged 60 and above, as well as those living with them, have been “strongly urged” to stay at home to reduce their chances of contracting COVID-19 amid a spike in cases.
This is especially so if they are unvaccinated, said the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) on Thursday (Sep 30).
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/seniors-stay-home-4-weeks-covid-19-vaccine-booster-2212356
this means that 9% of households were told to do voluntarily lockdown for the next 4 weeks.
AIC advised seniors to only go out for essential activities and I suppose that this advice also applies, even if the CNA report doesn’t state it, to those living with them.
Welcome to S’pore’s plan for living with Covid-19: no official lockdown for 9% of households but lockdown all the same.
When an ex PAP running dog turned into a foaming at the mouth mad dog, wrote a piece (Visit https://www.facebook.com/thenewsingapore/) castigating the $4G’s performance over Covid-19, I had to do something to defend them.
They know the link between vaccination and economic growth and got over 80% of us vaccinated. Two cheers* for this quick action.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) blames low vaccination rates for ‘diverging’ south-east Asia growth vis-a-vis that of the rest of Asia.
It downgraded Indonesia’s (the largest regional economy) by a percentage point to 3.5%. the Thai economy (second largest) eby more than 2 percentage points to 0.8%, and Vietnam’s (the fastest growing regional economy) by 3.8%, from 6.7%.
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Nike’s woes in Vietnam and Indonesia
Nike’s factories in Vietnam and Indonesia, which make three quarters of its shoes, have been hit by local lockdowns. In Vietnam alone it has cost the firm 10 weeks of production this year.
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While downgrading SE Asian growth because of low vaccination, it upgraded our growth rate by half a percentage point to 6.5%. S’pore has vaxxed about 80% of its population. From DBS:
More from DBS, showing that things are looking good.
And before u dismiss the DBS report as the equivalent of the constructive, nation-building ST (i.e. as BS) note DBS maintains ‘below-consensus’ forecasts with ‘bumpy path’ towards endemic Singapore: https://www.theedgesingapore.com/capital/brokers-calls/dbs-maintains-below-consensus-forecasts-bumpy-path-towards-endemic-singapore
*qualified approval or mild enthusiasm, often used ironically The cybernuts infesting TRE don’t know this.
I’m surprised that TOC and the anti-PAP cybernuts KPKBing on TRE and FB on the PAP govt’s policy on opening up (if it has one which doesn’t seem to be the case) haven’t picked up on the fact that the Pfizer vaccine which most of us have been vaccinated with is rubbish relative to Moderna’s version.
America’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention released a study showing that Moderna’s covid-19 vaccine was 95% effective at preventing hospitalisation, compared with 80% for Pfizer-BioNTech’s and 60% for Johnson & Johnson’s.
Economist, FT etc
We should have ordered a lot more Moderna. My friend who took Moderna despite having to get vaccinated it at an inconvenient time and place is feeling smug. As she’s in her 50s, she was afraid she might have to settle for Sinovac.
OK, OK, it’s more an understandable misstep than a cock-up. But my point is that the usual suspects are quiet on this. Why?
Btw, a separate study demonstrated that unvaccinated people were 11 times more likely to die of the disease than those who were fully jabbed.
One can only hope that Goh Meng Seng and other anti-vaxxers (Forward this to Goh Meng Seng and other S’poreans who wish us ill) suffer the consequences of trying to kill us with their misinformation. They should remember that Karma is a bitch.
No not our PAP govt. But the govt of the state that many Muslims want to destroy.
Just in
Health-care officials in Israel said that the country, an early leader in the global covid-19 vaccination race, was making plans in case it had to give people a fourth jab. The country, which is closely watched elsewhere for clues about the path of the pandemic, began giving out booster shots last month after a surge in new cases.
Economist Expresso
With this kind of planning, no wonder the Israelis beat the crap out of those Muslims (think the Iranians and their terrorist allies) who want to kill them and and destroy Israel.
(Note this piece was extensively edited after first publication.)
In other words, forward it to TRE, where the anti-vaxxers lurk. (To make it very clear, I don’t think TRE wishes other S’poreans ill or is anti-vaccine. But the anti-vaxxers congregate there.)
Over the past 28 days, the percentage of unvaccinated people in Singapore who became severely ill or died stood at 9.3 per cent, while the figure for the fully vaccinated is only 1.3 per cent.
FT reporting MoH data
Goh Meng Seng and his pals want the hospitals to be filled with unvaccinated, stressing our healyh system : Misinformation blamed for Covid admissions rise https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-58394702https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-58394702
They can then blame the PAP govt for not providing adequate healthcare.
To be fair to Goh Meng Seng, he Walks the Talk. He, his wife and daughter are not vaccinated. Seems he has said (I can’t confirm), he said he’d rather they catch Covid-19 because traditional Chinese medicine can cure them.
Wall St’s S&P at record high. “God’s in his heaven/ All’s right with the world”, right?
Not if the Indian variant has its way.
Something to worry about especially if the Indian variant of the Kung Flu (aka the Wuhan virus) continues to disrupt economic activity.
In response to AZ vaccine is better than Pfizer against the Indian variant, a fat cat investor who was once a medical doctor explained (emphasis mine)
That’s coz AZ (and J&J) promotes more T-cells (the “memory” cells of our immune system) to find the virus on longer-term basis.
mRNA vaccines promotes more immediate production of antibodies, which are excellent fighters against the virus, but decrease over time.
That’s why combination of mRNA & traditional vaccines have shown strong empirical efficacy. Combination of 2 aspects of our immune system.
So if we get an AZ vaccine as our booster shot, you heard it here first.
Well the Indians are manufacturing the AZ vaccine and so have a vested interest in making sure the world buys it. LOL. We didn’t. Hence the need for a third dose something Israel and the US are doing. Doubtless the usual suspects will be KPKBing about the failure of our PAP govt.
I am fine with people choosing not to get vaccinated as long as they stay away from everyone else who is vaccinated. If that is the freedom they want fine by me. But we know that the anti-PAP cybernuts on TRE and TOC insist that anti-vaxxers (same as the anti-PAP cybernuts) insist on their right to spit to spit on everyone else.
There is also a need for people to bear the cost of their actions, in this case, choosing to remain unvaccinated. Life insurance doesn’t cover a born loser if the said TRE or TOC reader commits suicide shortly after buying a policy. Likewise health insurance shouldn’t cover the cost of care for people who are hospitalised with Covid who chose to remain unvaccinated for non-medical reasons. The selfishness of people who foolishly believe they are invincible and don’t get the jab should bear consequences.
And they shouldn’t KPKB when the govt gives the double-jabbed certain privileges.
New York City to require proof of vaccine for some indoor activities
City is first in the US to mandate customers be jabbed to access restaurants, gyms and other entertainment
Recent FT headline
And I would say all of the u/m to
Unlike us, they don’t have millionaire PAP ministers.
Low vaccination rates and the rapid march through the region of more transmissible variants of covid-19 mean that almost every country is experiencing its worst wave yet. This month Indonesia surpassed India as Asia’s hotspot. With oxygen supplies dwindling and hospitals overcrowded, some health-care systems are near collapse. Death rates are soaring: Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar were among the 20 countries with the most deaths per million people in the week to July 29th. Myanmar in particular is hoping that it will be able to tap into ASEAN’s covid-19 fund. Just 3% of its population is vaccinated.
Yesterday’s Economist Expresso
In Be thankful we got PAP govt, I showed a chart showing that M’sia and Thailand had serious problems with mama variant. The second chart below explains why: low vaccination rates in these countries.
Then there’s this too
ASEAN-5” refers to Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Indonesia and PinoyLand also have low vaccination rates.
$4G leaders and PM are not worth their million dollar salaries (They let in the mama variant) but still …
But first for the plebs
A fifth column is any group of people who undermine a larger group from within, usually in favor of an enemy group or nation. The activities of a fifth column can be overt or clandestine. Forces gathered in secret can mobilize openly to assist an external attack.
Fifth column – Wikipedia
Well the subversives (think Goh Meng Seng who helped deprive us of President Tan Cheng Bok: Desperately seeking Cheng Bock) have made it easy for the ISD to monitor and if necessary round them up because
About 72,000 individuals in Singapore have received at least one dose of the Sinovac jab, with 17,000 people having received their second one, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung in Parliament on Monday (26 July).
Constructive, nation-building media
India has officially recorded more than 414,000 Covid-19 deaths so far.
But according to a BBC report,
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused excess deaths in India to cross more than four million, a new study has found.
Excess deaths are a measure of how many more people are dying than would be expected compared to the previous few years.
Although it is difficult to say how many of these deaths have been caused by Covid-19, they are a measure of the overall impact of the pandemic.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-57888460
Karma for infecting the world with Indian variant, a variant that is causing stock markets to fall?
“Investors are concerned that the rapid spread of the Delta variant will derail the trajectory of the global recovery, notably in Asia which still has relatively low vaccination rates and where some widely used vaccines do not appear overly effective against it,” Jeff Halley, senior market analyst, from Oanda told the BBC.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57885183
When I read
COVID-19 cases detected among fishmongers in at least 11 markets
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/covid-19-cases-detected-among-fishmongers-11-markets-moh-15240462
I tot jialat. They also KTV patrons.
But then I was reassured because MOH said that the fishmongers were likely to have been infected through contact with stallholders at Jurong Fishery Port.
But then I tot: “Maybe the stallholders were KTV patrons?”.
What do you think?
Whatever, epic fail for the PAP govt in allowing at least one wannabe hostess on short-term visitor pass. And for not checking that she was working illegally (not suppose to work). And for allowing her to remain beyond her 90 day pass.
Our $4G leaders are showing that they are not up to scratch. Bet you they’ll blame it on the foot soldiers.
Further to Covid-19: Three cheers for the PAP govt
Researchers in France found that one shot of the Astrazeneca or Pfizer vaccine “barely” worked against the fast-spreading Delta variant of covid-19; two doses gave strong protection. They also found that the antibodies produced by natural infection with the virus offered less protection against Delta than against an earlier strain, suggesting those who have recovered from covid-19 still need to be vaccinated.
Economist
Despite the PAP govt failing to convince S’poreans, like me, in the recent parly debate that it doesn’t love Indians from India more than it loves S’poreans, let’s credit it for giving most of us the best vaccine (Pfizer) that is effective against the Indian variant.
If it really loves Indian Indians as much as some say they do, we’d not have been vaccinated with Pfizer.
OK, OK, more like the US, UK and Europe. What China can do (remember the Kung Flu aka Wuhan virus aka Chinese virus), India also can do.
Delta variant aka the Indian variant now represents 20% of new cases in the US says Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden.
In the UK, Modi’s virus represents over 90% of new cases.
The Indian variant is now dominant in Portugal and appeared in clusters across Germany, France and Spain.
[T]he delta variant appears to be more transmissible than any other. It may also be more severe and deadly. Even people who have previously been infected may be vulnerable.
Economist
But
Thankfully, the vaccines made by Pfizer and AstraZeneca, the main ones deployed in Britain, remain 80% effective after two doses. However, efficacy is considerably lower after a single dose.
Economist
Some reports put the efficacy at 90%. But don’t worry Modi’s working on a updated variant to infect the world.
The following made me think the above.
Lawrence Wong’s latest remarks about the Bukit Merah Covid-19 outbreak (Indian variant I assume?) led to STI losing 1%++ on Wednesday
COVID-19 task force ‘evaluating’ timing and scope of reopening amid fresh outbreak: Lawrence Wong
Constructive, nation-building CNA
The only meaningful announcement on Friday was that two persons can eat together at an F&B outlet.. The rest were cosmetic, hence more support using our money: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/work-from-home-wfh-default-jobs-support-scheme-covid-19-15040560
It was then that I read that a senior British cabinet minister, annoyed that the lockdown in England has been extended for another month because of the Indian variant (In the UK, the Indian variant is everywhere, accounting for 90% of cases.) grumbled very publicly:
Several papers pick up on comments made by the Leader of the Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg, about the delay to fully lifting lockdown restrictions in England.
Mr Rees-Mogg told a podcast on the Conservative Home website that you shouldn’t “run society purely to stop the hospitals being full” – adding that “the NHS is there to serve the British people,” rather than the other way around.
BBC
(Ministers and pulic health experts in the UK want to protect hospitals from being overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients.)
This made me think.
The PAP government is here to serve S’poreans, rather the other way round. S’pore shouldn’t be run purely to ensure that Lawrence Wong and the other 4G leaders look good after cocking up.
S’poreans did their bit, by following the rules and getting vaccinated. But the PAP govt squandered our efforts by carelessly letting in the Indian variant because they wanted FTs from Mamaland by the plane load.
Don’t believe me? TOC has lots of charts showing that the data shows we got infected by Indian Indians: https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2021/06/17/indian-nationals-make-up-about-70-of-imported-cases-from-nepal-50-of-uae-to-singapore-in-2021-based-on-moh-data/
And the data does not seem to support the PAP govt’s assertion that the danger of getting infected is the price we have to pay to keep the building and construction industry going.
Btw, one Indian who brought the Indian variant in (She denies it, claiming she got it here at Changi) said she felt safer in India than In S’pore. And the PAP govt didn’t deport her back for her insult.
Still to be fair to the PAP govt, the int’l media has reported that Pfizer ‘s vaccine (the most common vaccine here) is highly effective at preventing hospitalisations from the Indian variant. So it did get us the best vaccine our money can buy.
And then there’s this
So a C grade for the $4G’s efforts is fair? What do u think?
And all Mamas round the world.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reclassified the Delta strain of Covid-19 as a variant of concern, saying it is more transmissible and adding further pressure to maintain the country’s vaccination drive.
FT
The slit eyes may have started the Kung Flu but the Indian version is the most transmissible.
Congrats Modi. Anything China can do, Modi’s India can do better.
Further to Share this with fans of Sinovac, a regular reader who was a medical doctor turned fat cat wrote
What’s happening in Chile now is EXACTLY what happened in Seychelles couple months ago.
This is exactly why Beijing said 2 weeks ago that China cannot follow the West to re-open because Beijing themselves are uncertain how effective their own cheena vaccines are.
People are now suspecting the wide difference of results in the various cheena vaccine trials in 3rd world countries (Turkey, Brazil, Indonesia) is due to different Covid variants, apart from maybe fishy or lousy record-keeping.
Traditional vaccines like the cheena ones, as well as Astrazeneca, have proven themselves in real life to be far less effective against newer Covid variants, in particular the Indian strain. Ongoing & future mutations will make ALL vaccines less effective, but will affect the traditional ones even more so.
At least so far, the traditional vaccines can still reduce severe infections, hospital/ICU admissions, and deaths. However Chile & Seychelles have shown that traditional vaccines are unable to significantly prevent infection by newer Covid variants, as well as transmission.
The benefit of mRNA drugs is that scientists can easily “re-program” the instruction code to combat new variants relatively quickly, often within 3 months. It will take much longer for traditional vaccines, as the scientists will need to practically start from scratch again.
The main benefit of traditional vaccines is that they may be better for people who have history of SEVERE allergic reactions. However real life experience so far also indicates the traditional Covid vaccines appear to have proclivity for adverse blood clotting events, especially in women.
*
Plenty of KPKBing From China tua kees that PAP govt is wrongly depriving of the best vaccine for Covid-19.
Well Chile has been relying on Sinovac and 58% of the population has been vaccinated:
Chile has announced a lockdown in the capital Santiago amid rising Covid cases, despite nearly 60% of the country being fully vaccinated.
More than eight million residents living in and around the capital now must stay at home from Saturday.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-57436861
Despite being snubbed at last GE (only 60% leh), and S’poreans giving PM the finger, the PAP govt is still working hard, serving S’poreans.
Where the millionaire ministers are failing is not telling us the end game? Are they aiming for 100% vaccination before opening the floodgates to Indian FTs to infect us? Or is it 60% before allowing them in?
Seems that it’s now illegal to work in the office if the work can be done from home
I was recently told the story of MoM inspectors raiding an office and fining the employer S$2000 because the employer and two employees were found working in the office. Did Syazana Yahya lodge a police report? She believes that one police report against her gang, deserves another in retaliation: bit like Hamas retaliating for Israeli attack, after first attacking Israel.
The employer told the Gestapo inspectors that as the office could accommodate 10 people pre Covid-19 and so under Phase 2, less than five people could work in the office, why was he being fined? There were only three people in the office.
He was told that under Phase 2 (Heightened), it was illegal to work in the office, if the work could be done from home. He (like me) thought that working from home was the recommended option, not mandatory.
Here’s one very upset S’porean that the Indian variant came in because of lax procedures at Changi Int’l Airport, and because of lax immigration rules. He won’t be voting for the PAP govt at the next GE.
Btw, on the correct terminology that should be used by the PAP govt, I think Phase 2 (Heightened) is the real Circuit Breaker. Last yr’s Circuit Breaker was actually Lockdown Lite.
But then when it comes to the use of words, the PAP govt is so Orwellian.
Scientists at the Menzies Health Institute Queensland at Griffith University and US research facility City of Hope said a new antiviral drug they are working on had almost wiped out coronavirus in mice and could be suitable for humans. It’s 99.9% effective in mice.
China’s Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine was 67% effective in preventing symptomatic infection, data from a huge real-world study in Chile has shown. The vaccine was 85% effective in preventing hospitalizations and 80% effective in preventing deaths. An earlier trial carried out by Brazil’s government showed that the shot had an efficacy rate of just 50.7%. So China’s Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine is effective against Kung Flu aka “Wuhan virus” “aka China virus”.
The US’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said that people who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 could stop wearing masks and socially distancing in most indoor and outdoor settings (excluding health-care clinics and public transport).
India’s recent catastrophic Covid-19 surge, from about 10,000 new cases a day in February to more than 300,000 a day over the past week, is a historical record in the making. Modi and the BJP must be proud that India is setting a record.
The Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia and traditional New Year celebrations in China were much reduced in size. But Modi allowed millions to attend the Kumbh Mela. Hence the surge.
He tot Ram would protect India? After all Modi last year opened the shrine at Ram’s birth place.
Facebook on Friday (Apr 16) said it does not allow false claims on its platform that could lead to the rejection of COVID-19 vaccines, and will remove such posts.
The company was responding to CNA’s queries after People’s Power Party politician Goh Meng Seng said that Facebook removed “several” of his videos and posts, alleging intervention by the Singapore Government.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/facebook-goh-meng-seng-pofma-covid-19-posts-removed-policies-14635356
That’s not all. He was issued a correction direction under Singapore’s Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA). He had published posts on two Facebook pages linking COVID-19 vaccination to a stroke suffered by a doctor and the death of an 81-year-old man.
Whatever, here’s the modus operandi of an anti-PAP anti-vaxxer who does not wish S’pore well.
Goh Meng Seng starts by claiming that he’s not anti-vaccine. And that he wants health workers to be vaccinated.
He then mixes facts with BS to hide his anti-vaxxer and anti-PAP credentials.
Read this and make up yr mind if I’m right.
Safety of the Covid-19 Vaccines
For the record, I am NEVER ANTI-Vaccine all my life. But I believe the TWO KEY factors must be fulfilled, Efficacy & Safety.
The current Covid19 vaccines have neither proven beyond reasonable doubts.
No matter how pharmaceutical companies and governments all over the world try to hard sell, the Hard Truth is nobody knows how effective all these vaccines could last, basically because there is a lack of time in testing it.
On the other hand, it should be apparent by now, Safety of all these vaccines is really questionable with the availability of more data.
Thus, at the very best, these experimental vaccines are only approved for Emergency use which means only those who really have higher chance of being infected due to their job scope, should take these vaccines.
Frontline workers like those in healthcare sector, should take the risk and get the jabs because there is counter risk of infection.
Other than that, I do not see the need to rush into massive vaccination program asking everyone to get the jab.
Taking these vaccines should only be a desperate option of last resort.
It is more rational to wait.
There are three possible scenarios:
1) Newer, safer and more effective vaccines may be developed given more time to all the scientists in the world.
2) A cure or set of treatments may be developed to reduce death and serious damage done by the Covid19 virus infections.
3) The rapid mutation of the virus may render all current vaccines invalid. But we may find a more effective way to live with it just like turning it into another Flu-like virus.
Thus, in my view, people like me who have lower risk of infection, there are more advantages to wait rather to rush in to take unnecessary risk.
Goh Meng Seng
It’s people like him that ensure that Why even with 4G donkeys, PAP will retain power.
And remember, he helped keep the PAP’s share of the popular vote above 60%. It would have been 58.7% if he and other “useful idiots” hadn’t contested: PAP’s useful idiots: s/o JBJ, Meng Seng, Lim Tean, P Ravi and Michelle Lee
Forward this to Mad Dog Chee, Goh Meng Seng and Terry Xu who think that everything PAP govt does in fighting Covid-19 is a disaster.
The African Union will pay three times more for Russia’s Sputnik V jab than it is paying for western vaccines. The US$9.75 price per dose for 300m shots of the Russian vaccine compares with the US$3 a dose the AU has agreed for the Oxford/AstraZeneca and Novavax jabs made by the Serum Institute of India,
The AU is buying jabs on behalf of its member states to supplement supplies from Covax, the WHO-backed facility supplying vaccines to poorer countries, which delivered its first jabs to Ghana last week week.
Don’t worry if you think you are going nuts or bananas. Many people around the world are crying, stressed and feeling overwhelmed.
The good news for S’poreans is that in the region, HK people, Chinese, Australians and Indonesians are more stressed.
Globally the British are the most stressed and the Germans the least stressed.
In One of vaccines chosen by the PAP govt is cheap but not that effective, I poited out that Sinovac vaccine we ordered
has not been submitted to the US, UK or EU authorities for approval.
This means that are no Western phase 3 safety and efficacy trials (the Gold standard required by Western authorities before approval) and if there’s little data on efficacy, how will the HSA review CoronaVac before rolling it out to the public?
Rely on what the Chinese and third world countries say?
In HK delaying use of Sinovac vaccine, I reported that Secret Squirrel alleged that VivanB and Darth Shan want Desmond Tan (Sabo King) to get the jab to show S’poreans that its safe.
It won’t work. We need a tua kee and respected minister to take the jab.
Serbia’s US-educated prime minister was the first European leader to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The country’s Russophile internal affairs minister rolled up his sleeve for an armful of Sputnik V. And the health minister happily posed for his injection with Sinopharm’s coronavirus shot.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55931864
As Hali and PM have taken the American/ German vaccine, we need someone like Tharman, Teo Chee Hean or Ng Eng Hen to take the Sinovac vaccine to assure us plebs its save: not an incomptent Sabo King. It would be unfair to get Heng to take CoronaVac because even though, we are told, he had a complete recovery, he did have a serious stroke.
(Btw, he’s a lucky man. I juz had to put down my 14-year old dog, S’pore breed, because he was paralysed. We suspect it was due to a stroke attack.)
Maybe Chan Kee Chiu will kee chiu? But then he doesn’t have the stature of Tharman, Teo Chee Hean, Ng Eng Hen or even Heng. So no point.
My choice would be Tharman because if he takes Sinovac vaccine and doesn’t turn yellow, all the ang moh tua kees who think the sun shines from his ass will be clamouring for it, not the ang moh vaccine.
Then I may get the vaccine Hali and PM got. Best of the class: German and American know-how.
Yes, yes, I kinow Indonesia’s president has taken the SinoVac vaccine and lived. But he’s Indonesian, not S’porean.
The last GE saw the PAP again losing while winning. Its share of the popular declined 10 points to around where it was in 2011: around 60% of the popular vote. Worse, it had to rely on P Ravi, PRC running dog Goh Meng Seng and other useful idiots to help achieve this number: PAP’s useful idiots: s/o JBJ, Meng Seng, Lim Tean, P Ravi and Michelle Lee
I was reminded of GE 20120 when I read that George Shultz, a former US secretary of state who significantly shaped foreign policy in the late 20th Century, has died at the age of 100.
Trust is the coin of the realm. When trust was in the room, whatever room that was – the family room, the schoolroom, the locker room, the office room, the government room or the military room – good things happened. When trust was not in the room, good things did not happen.
In an opinion piece for the Washington Post to mark the occasion of his 100th birthday last December, Mr Shultz reflected on the lessons he had learned over his life in politics.
Given the fiasco over contract tracing
Broken promises: How Singapore lost trust on contact tracing privacy
Guarantees that Singaporean phone data would only be used to fight covid-19 were hollow.
Kirsten Han writing in https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/01/11/1016004/singapore-tracetogether-contact-tracing-police/
and the govt’s attempts at damage control
Bill introduced to make clear TraceTogether, SafeEntry data can be used to look into only 7 types of serious crimes
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/proposed-restrictions-to-safeguard-personal-contact-tracing-data-will-override-all-other
I think the PAP govt should take to heart George Schultz’s words:
When trust was not in the room, good things did not happen.
They want the British developed vaccine.
International and Indian media reported that in some hospitals, frontline health workers have refused to take Covaxin, demanding access to Covishield instead.
The reason? India has not fully approved Covaxin: India’s Covid-19 vaccination: Do you feel lucky?
(Breaking news at 5.35 am on 18 January 2021: Brazil has approved Sinovac’s CoronaVac.)
It also has not been submitted to the US, UK or EU authorities for approval.
Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said on Wednesday (13 January) that the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) will review CoronaVac before rolling it out to public: i.e. giving it to the plebs.
Several countries, including Indonesia, Turkey, Thailand, M’sia and Singapore, have placed orders for the coronavirus vaccine (CoronaVac) developed by China’s Sinovac. It’s cheap compared to the ang moh vaccines approved for use in the West. It’s in use in China.
CoronaVac is found to be 50.4% effective in Brazilian clinical trials, according to the latest results released by researchers. It shows the vaccine is significantly less effective than previous data suggested – barely over the 50% needed for regulatory approval.
The two vaccines approved by the US, UK and EU are more than 90% effective, while the third (only approved in the UK) is 70%+ effective.
Coming back to Health Minister Gan Kim Yong’s assurance that the HSA will review CoronaVac before rolling it out to the public, how is HSA going to review the vaccine?
This made-in-China vaccine has not been submitted to the US, UK or EU authorities for approval.
This means that are no Western phase 3 safety and efficacy trials (the Gold standard required by Western authorities before approval) and if there’s little data on efficacy, how will the HSA review the CoronaVac vaccine before rolling it out to the public?
Rely on what the Chinese and third world countries say?
In response to India’s Covid-19 vaccination: Do you feel lucky?, about an Indian vaccine approved for use despite not completing its phase 3 trials, a regular reader, a fat cat who was a medical doctor wrote
Singapore will also have our own version of “Do you feel lucky”.
By the time vaccination exercise starts for the general population, roughly 1/3 of the shots will be from Sinovac. Phase 3 trials from Brazil indicates 78%* efficacy for this cheena shot.
My friends in the healthcare biz have been getting their Pfizer-BioNTech shots since last week of Dec.
Covishield, the AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of costs the Indian govt Rs200 (US$2.7). Covaxin the the vaccine indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech costs Rs206 a dose: 3% more.
And don’t forget, India has not fully approved Covaxin– India’s Covid-19 vaccination: Do you feel lucky?
Chinese with the Kung Flu or China virus or Wuhan virus didn’t infect Brits in the UK.
The most comprehensive study of transmission ever carried out for any disease said that the coronavirus came to the UK mainly from southern Europe, rather than China, the FT reported last week.
In “Dirty Harry”, Clint Eastwood playing Dirty Harry asks a criminal, “You’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do you, punk?”
Indians going for vaccination should be asking themselves: “Do I feel lucky?”
India is due to start its Covid vaccination drive tomorrow, with priority given to about 30m healthcare and frontline workers.
The country’s drugs regulator has allowed the use of two vaccines. One developed by AstraZeneca with Oxford University (Covishield) and one by Indian firm Bharat Biotech (Covaxin).
Indians going for vaccination should be asking themselves, “Do I feel lucky”, because they might get Covaxin, not Covishield. The British have approved Covishield, but no-one else in the world has approved the use of Covaxin.
Even India’s “approval” of Covaxin is not really an approval: its subject to caveats to protect the regulator and Modi’s govt.
The regulator said the vaccine had been approved for “restricted use in emergency situation in public interest as an abundant precaution, in clinical trial mode, especially in the context of infection by mutant strains”. Weasel words, mealy mouthily words to avoid saying that Covaxin is safe i.e passed phase 3 tests.
Hence, Experts raised concerns over India’s emergency approval of Covaxin before the completion of trials.
Health watchdog All India Drug Action Network said there were “intense concerns arising from the absence of the efficacy data” as well as a lack of transparency that would “raise more questions than answers and likely will not reinforce faith in our scientific decision making bodies”.
India’s Drugs Controller General, VG Somani, insisted Covaxin was “safe and provides a robust immune response”.
“The vaccines are 100% safe,” he said, adding that side effects such as “mild fever, pain and allergy are common for every vaccine”.
BBC report
Because Indians don’t read Wikipedia? And so don’t know what WHO is telling the the public about Covid-19. In October the World Health Organisation started working with Wikipedia to make information on covid-19 available via Wikipedia.
But as the u/m shows, Indians don’t read Wikipedia.
Btw, there’s an interesting article in the Economist on Wikipedia: https://www.economist.com/international/2021/01/09/wikipedia-is-20-and-its-reputation-has-never-been-higher. Worth the read.
Fake “Covid-19 immunity boosters” are being sold over the counter in London shops, a BBC investigation has found.
Coronil, a herbal remedy from India, was found on sale in shops in predominantly Asian areas across the capital.
Manufacturers Patanjali Ayurved claim the pills protect against “respiratory tract infections”. Tests carried out for the BBC show the pills offer no protection from coronavirus.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-55318095
PM’s announcement of Phase 3 reminded me of “Ownself contradict ownself” statements from the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group: the elite team meant to remake S’pore.
(Is Li Hongyi on it? Secret Squirrel alleges that he’s on it and is one of its shining lights. But Secret Squirrel often gets things wrong.)
But first, some introductory comments:
The adoption of the TraceTogether app and tokens stand at more than 60 per cent, getting closer to the 70 per cent target required to move to Phase 3
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/tracetogether-app-token-adoption-phase-3-13748714
CNA went on to say that SNDGG said a possible reason (one of several SNDGG gave) for not adopting TraceTogether
may be the belief that SafeEntry is sufficient, stemming from a lack of understanding that TraceTogether and SafeEntry are complementary tools that serve different functions.
Constructive, nation-building CNA
Excuse me Smart Nation and Digital Government Group, if liddat, why u/m statement?
No need to collect the token if you have the TraceTogether App
https://token.gowhere.gov.sg/
The statement implies that the token is an alternative to the app.
There’s more from the :
Contact Tracing
The TraceTogether Token complements the TraceTogether App by extending the protection provided by digital contact tracing tools to those who may not own or prefer not to use a mobile phone.
https://token.gowhere.gov.sg/
OK, OK, the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group didn’t issue these statements, the S’pore govt did.
But surely the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group must have approved these statements. So why so cock, unless it didn’t vet the site.
Btw, I’ve been told that I cannot collect the token yet. Originally the date for collection in my area would have begun on 14 December. No new date has been given.
How to get to target of 70% liddat? So don’t suka suka blame public like the the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group implied in the CNA article.
How to have confidence in the $4G leaders? But let’s be far, PM and other 3Gs are still calling the shots. So 3Gs also are a bunch of mediocrities, not withstanding the million $ salaries: Ex-PM’s money obsession causing PAP problems.
For the record, the 4G leaders failed their legitimacy test: Why PAP aiming for 65% of the popular vote. (Btw, written in 2018: Why even with 4G donkeys, PAP will retain power.)
And based on what PM, Lawrence Wong and Shanmugan said the PAP is very aware that their legitimacy is waning: Legitimacy problem for the PAP as 9% of voters get smarter
But the bad, sad news is how they are trying to fix the legitimacy problem. Instead of listening to Tharman’s views (see below), the PAP are trying to shift the goal posts, lowering the high water mark of success: now only aiming for 65% of the popular vote as their high water mark of popularity and success, not -70%+ mark of the past: How the PAP plans to fix its legitimacy problem.
And we must be a more tolerant democracy, with greater space for divergent views, and a more active civil society, without the public discourse becoming divisive or unsettling the majority.It will be good for Singapore if we evolve in these three ways. They will each help ensure stability in our democracy in the years to come. And they will tap on the energies and ideas of a younger generation of Singaporeans and their desire to be involved in public affairs.
Part of Tharman’s FB post
As Biden is a Catholic, is he asking the Pope to do an exorcism to ensure that no traces of the Trump genie remains? They are both no friends of capitalism, the Trump version. The Pope may even be a closet Marxist.
No, nothing so spectacular. It’s more prosaic.
The UK’s Mail on Sunday reports that the US President-elect has asked that the White House be deep-cleaned, after Donald Trump leaves in January. A spokesman for Joe Biden’s transition team says this is because “Mr Trump’s administration has been riddled with coronavirus”. The spokesman says a team in protective clothing will go as far as replacing door knobs and removing soft furnishings.
When I read
Singapore will invest S$25 billion – or 1 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) – in research, innovation and enterprise for the next five years.
The Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2025 Plan (RIE2025), announced by Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat at a press conference on Friday (Dec 11), includes a new national programme to prepare for future epidemics.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-invest-25-billion-research-develop-talent-13751100
I remembered reading that Hong Kong has ordered 7.5m doses from Pfizer and BioNTech, and 7.5m doses from the Chinese pharmaceutical group Sinovac. It’s planning to order a similar amount from AstraZeneca.
Meanwhile, as for S’pore’s orders, S’pore won’t be last in the queue for any vaccine, according to PM.
Interim data suggests the AstraZeneca vaccine provides 70% protection, but the researchers say the figure may be as high as 90% by tweaking the dose. Pfizer and Moderna vaccines showed 95% protection.
But the vaccine is cheap compared to the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine: it’ll be sold at cost. India doesn’t have much $ unlike the Americans. The other vaccines are priced for the West, not for India
Better still, it can be kept for at least six months in a normal fridge. The Pfizer vaccine needs ultra-cold storage of -70°C, and can be kept in a fridge for only a few days. The Moderna vaccine can be kept in a fridge for a month.
This means that the AstraZeneca vaccine can be stored in any surgery or pharmacy in a third world country like India.
Richard Hatchett, the head of CEPI, a foundation that funds research into vaccines for pandemics, said he thought this vaccine had the potential to significantly alter the course of the global pandemic and could be delivered anywhere, including poor countries.
Economist
And that’s not all. The best news is that the Serum Institute, an Indian maker of drugs and vaccines, committed itself to mass-manufacturing the AstraZeneca vaccine as long ago as April. And it seems half of what it makes can be kept by India, to be used in India.
India’s ordered it:
India has to pay the Serum Institute for the vaccine but Modi’s thugs are already thinking about how not to pay. A minister has talked loudly of seizing the vaccine when the Serum Institute said India had yet to allocate funds to buy it.
Sounds like India is imitating China’s grandpa Xi.
Whatever, Hindoos should be breaking more coconuts. After an Indian US VP, this vaccine shows that Ram and pals love India, not withstand the many Muslims. LOL.
I’ve reported that in revenge for China humiliating India in the Himalayas (All those dead Indian soldiers) India has been exporting sending Indians with Covid-19 to HK (Covid-19: Indians going to be banned from going to HK?) and S’pore (Covid-19: FTs from India reinfecting S’pore)
In a change of tactics, India is now sending direct to China packaging of frozen cuttlefish frozen infected with Covid-19. The packaging is infected with Covid-19, not the cuttlefish.
Seriously, the Chinese authorities have detected Covid-19 in the packaging of frozen cuttlefish from India,
India backed the loser by a country mile.
Modi’s gang backed Novavax’s vaccine, ordering lots of it. But it didn’t bother with the two likely winners: the vaccines from AstraZeneca/ Oxford University and Pfizer/ BioNTech.
The vaccine trains the immune system to fight coronavirus.
https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-54880084
It is a new type of vaccine called an RNA vaccine and uses a tiny fragment of the virus’ genetic code. This starts making part of the virus inside the body, which the immune system recognises as foreign and starts to attack.
It is given in two doses – three weeks apart – and early data suggests it protects more than 90% of people from developing Covid symptoms.
Pre-departure tests will cost HK$240 ($30) in Hong Kong and up to S$200 in Singapore.
FT report
Well HK$240 is only S$41.73. Yet S’pore is charging up to S$200.
An honest mistake? Or our preflight Covid-19 tests manufactured in the US of A and HK’s made in China? That explains why HK test is less than 25% of ours?
(Last sentence added on 12 November at 5.00am)
How the vaccine will reach a village in Africa or the Amazon region from the place where its manufactured.
India role as “the pharmacy of the world” because of its role in supplying generic medicines to poorer countries, is under threat. China previously a supplier of cheap ingredients. it now formulating own drugs, Western countries now their increasingly protecting their own pharma industries to ensure drug security
Virus can pop up anywhere
In NZ, authorities traced very recently a coronavirus cluster that emerged in an isolation facility in Sept to a rubbish bin lid shared between two neighbours.
Seems Indians are more immune to Covid-19 .
But they wouldn’t like the reason why they are more immune. And that’s the reason why the Chinese are laughing and sneering at Indians.
It’s not not because Indians are more virile, with better genes. It’s because
[N]ew research by Indian scientists suggests that low hygiene, lack of clean drinking water, and unsanitary conditions may have actually saved many lives from severe Covid-19.
In other words, they propose that people living in low and low middle-income countries may have been able to stave off severe forms of the infection because of exposure to various pathogens from childhood, which give them sturdier immunity to Covid-19. Both papers, yet to be peer reviewed, looked at deaths per million of population to compare fatality rates.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-54730290
So Indians have better immunity because India’s a “shit-hole” country, a term used by Trump about African countries.
Chinese can’t stop laughing.
As are our ang moh tua kees. Think Tan Jee Say: praising NZ’s PM for what she did in containing the pandemic, while ignoring Asian countries which did better. Of course he was dissing our PAP govt, which to be fair hasn’t done a great job, only a good job. It lets too many mamas in: Covid-19: FTs from India reinfecting S’pore
That are my conclusions after seeing this (from ang moh FT which with Economist gives fair coverage)
The int’l media in general, and the ang moh tua kees praise here praise NZ and its PM. It’s done good things but it’s two islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Praise Vietnam, China, Korea Indonesia and Japan. FT and Economist do this btw in their coverage.
Is it just preventing India from using Covid-19 to make China weak again? Or is it escalating tensions?
Hong Kong announced a third suspension against Air India after Indian travellers accounted for most of Hong Kong’s 17 new infections on Saturday (‘Coronavirus: Hong Kong urged to curb inbound travel from India as nation linked to most of city’s 17 new Covid-19 cases‘, 17 Oct). All of Saturday’s confirmed infections in Hong Kong were imported, 11 of them arriving from India.
This is the third time Hong Kong has banned Air India. Hong Kong had barred Air India from running the Delhi-Hong Kong services from August 18 to 31, and September 20 to October 3.
Hong Kong imposes a 14-day ban on any airline that carries five or more COVID-19 positive passengers, or operates two consecutive flights with three or more infected passengers.
It currently requires travellers from India to present a negative PCR test result for COVID-19 before boarding a flight to Hong Kong. But cattle truck load of infected travellers from India, the Hong Kong officials are facing calls to further tighten rules on travellers coming from there.
Hong Kong health experts are raising questions over the reliability of testing in India. Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, a Hong Kong government adviser said that there could be inaccuracies with the tests conducted in India. “It remains unclear with the reliability and sources of the tests there,” he said.
All those fake degrees?
Btw, Covid-19: India trying to reinfect China in escalation of border dispute?
Don’t use mobile and don’t handle cash?
This seems to be the implication of research findings by an Australian govt research body.
The virus responsible for Covid-19 can remain infectious on surfaces such as banknotes, phone screens and stainless steel for 28 days, researchers say.
The findings from Australia’s national science agency suggest SARS-Cov-2 can survive for far longer than thought.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-54500673
But don’t panic yet.
The BBC report goes on to say
[T]he experiment was conducted in the dark. UV light has already been shown to kill the virus.
Some experts have also thrown doubt on the actual threat posed by surface transmission in real life.
I think the Australia’s national science agency should have also conducted the experiments in the presence of light, not in the dark.
Whatever, clean hands and touchscreens, and avoid touching one’s face, the BBC article reminds.
Whatever 2, there’s a Hokkien saying that sums up the study, roughly translated as “After eating, too much free time.”
An article in the constructive, nation-building ST about S’poreans slowly returning to work in offices reminded of an FT chart in late August or early Sept.
Black mark or slap in the face for the PAP govt’s handling of Covid-19?
Compared with Europe, S’poreans don’t want to return to offices. They all want to skive is it?
Seriously maybe S’poreans think the PAP govt mishandled the Covid-19 pandemic?
The FT reports that whereas the continental European countries think their govts handled the pandemic pretty well, the British and the Americans think their govt’s mishandled the pandemic, hence their reluctance to return to offices.
But then there is this survey: Criticism of PAP govt’s handling of Covid-19 is really “noise”. It shows that S’poreans think the PAP govt is doing a good job in containing the pandemic.
Say one thing, but do another thing isit?
What do you think?
Hong Kong has suspended Air India’s incoming flights after Covid-19 positive cases were found on a flight.
Hong Kong banned Air India from flying to its airport for two weeks till 3 Oct after 6 passengers were found on a 18 Sep Air India flight. The passengers were flying from Delhi into Hong Kong. The 6 were tested positive upon arrival.
Prior to this, Air India carried 11 Covid-19 positive passengers also on a flight from Delhi to Hong Kong on 14 Aug.
India trying to bring China’s economy to its knees, so that it resembles India’s economy? Meanwhile S’pore is happy to let Indians in.
Thoughts of a Cynical Investor 